The Envy Corps swing into Iowa City this Thursday

The Envy Corps w/ The Kickback, Skypiper

Blue Moose Tap House – October 24 at 8 p.m.

Those jokers at Raygunsite.com used to sell a T-Shirt, designed in collaboration with the band, that says “The Envy Corps: Radiohead For Coldplay Fans.” So they’ve spoiled the main insight any music critic would bring to bear in describing their music. There’s no denying that these guys sound quite a bit like Radiohead. The best way to proceed, therefore, may be to list the ways in which they do not sound like Radiohead.

Luke Pettipoole’s head voice is not as nasally as Thom Yorke’s.

Their songs are road-ready in ways that Radiohead’s later work is not; they can play this stuff live without having a full time computer tech.

They write their own songs. They might be evocative — redolent even — of the Radiohead style, but pretty much anyone who goes to the trouble to write subtle, non-trivial pop songs ends up sounding a little like Radiohead. I don’t even think Thom Yorke could write an Envy Corps song, and if he tried, they wouldn’t be these songs.

The Envy Corps guitars sound like guitars. They’re a rock band. They play some keyboard parts, but neither do they own an Ondes Martenot, nor do they program Max/MSP patches to make a guitar sound like a computer falling down a flight of stairs.

For ticket information, check out the Blue Moose Tap House event page.

A collaboration between The Englert Theatre and FilmScene

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Strengthen • Grow • Evolve is a collaborative campaign led by two Iowa City-based arts nonprofits, The Englert Theatre and FilmScene that seeks a major reinvestment to strengthen the arts through modern and historic venues, innovative programming, and new models of collaboration.